Day 2 of ground school

The sim hall, with the full motion B737 800 sim in action

Having finished my second day of ground school, I thought it might be good to do a quick post about the work so far. The quantity of it is very high and we are expected to continue working when we are back home in order to keep up with the course. So far we have been doing Aircraft General Knowledge (AGK), which is one of the larger topics; airframes, fatigue, hydraulics, landing gear, and braking are just some of the things we have covered so far. We have another day of AGK this week, with Thursday being a CBT (Classroom Based Training) day at home before we move on to Principles of Flight on Friday.

We found out today that there have been sim sessions booked for us in a couple of weeks for 'learning' (playing!), which is fantastic motivation and a great reminder as to why we are here.

Although the workload is quite high, I think I am managing okay so far and am really surprised at how much I have learnt about aircraft in just a matter of days;  I'm extremely excited to see just how much I will know in a few month's time!

Meet & Greet and APD1

Well, here I am in my house. Absolutely shattered so looking forward to having plenty of rest over the weekend to prepare for Monday! Thought I would update my blog... whilst I have the time.

Meet & Greet
We left nice and early so we would be in Nursling for 10am, which was where we needed to pick up the keys. After meeting the housemates I didn't already know, I quickly unpacked before getting ready to go back to the Nursling training centre in the afternoon.

We had to be back at Nursling at 1pm for our uniform fitting, which was something I had been looking forward to. After this there was a talk by CTC, which included a short presentation where we received our epaulettes - my favourite part of the uniform! At the end of this we were given our flight bags meaning we now had the full pilot kit and were all ready for our first day in uniform at Nursling...

APD1
We have a few Airline Preparation Days throughout our training, with the first being the day after our meet and greet. The day was primarily about learning about our course, our coursemates, as well as more information on our selection results. There were a lot of non-technical skills involved - after all, flying planes isn't just about going up, down, left and right! It was an interesting day and definitely cannot wait to start groundschool on Monday!

The Class 1 Medical

I thought I'd make post on the EASA Class 1 medical, something which is necessary for anyone who wants or has a career as a pilot. I went for this back in September and it is safe to say that I was not looking forward to it. Doctors; blood; needles... we just don't mix. However, I was pleasantly surprised.
The medical was done at the CAA's Aviation House at Gatwick and lasted about 4 hours. They do a range of tests, which I thought I'd quickly describe to give you a feel for the day.

• I arrived at Aviation House dressed for comfort in trackie bottoms and a hoodie at eight in the morning, nice and early for my half eight appointment. There were about four other people who had appointments at the same time, two of who were also soon starting at a flight training organisation. 
• I was called by a Doctor who would take me around many different rooms to do a few different tests. 
• He took me into a room where I was weighed and measured, which can't have lasted more than two minutes. Nothing scary and I began to relax, deciding that the day wasn't going to be as bad as I thought it would be. 
• We then went to another room where I was told to sit in a tiny soundproof booth and put on some headphones. You had a little clicker in your hands, just like a weatherman would and have to push the button when you hear a beep. This isn't as easy as it sounds, as the beeps are barely audible. This lasted about ten minutes.

Not really a fan

• Then there was yet another room, where the blood test was done. I wasn't looking forward to this and had pictured massive needles, many vials of my blood, then me passing out and basically making a fool of myself. However, it was just one of those thimbles where they quickly stab (yes, stab) your finger and squeeze out as much of the red stuff as possible. There was also a urine test here, but I won't go into detail...
• After this, you guessed it, we went to another room. This time for the Electrocardiogram, something which I will now only need done every five years. This was a scary looking machine with wires all over the place, which were soon attached to me. This was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be; I just shut my eyes and before I knew it the beeping noises had stopped and I was unhooked. I could relax again!
• Yet another room, yet another test, this time the lung capacity one. Basically had to blow into an inhaler which was hooked up to a machine with a line graph type screen on it. You have to keep on blowing into the tube, despite there being no air left in your body, until the little horizontal line met the set line along the top of the screen. All the while, the Doctor is saying not to stop and you are actually surprised by how long you can exhale! 
• At this point the Doctor said goodbye and I was asked back into the waiting room for my physical. This Doctor basically asked me a few medical questions, before checking my heart, lungs, joints etc, as well as doing various tests to ensure I had enough strength to control an aircraft. I was in here for maybe half an hour to forty five minutes.
• The final test (and room) was where I would see the optician. This is just a very intense, vigorous eye exam with the usual tests for colourblindness etc being done. After reading a passage of text (in ye olde english) he got right in my face and poked around my eyes for about ten minutes. When he had finished, he took a deeper look (behind my eyes!) whilst I stared through this big metal machine. All in all not too bad, but not too keen on people messing around with my eyes!
• I was then free (well, kind of). I just had to wait around for about forty minutes whilst the three Doctors went through my results to make sure I had passed the requirements for the medical certificate. 

Luckily everything was fine and I was soon issued with a piece of paper saying I am fit to fly! I emailed CTC with a copy of my certificate, and was another step closer to starting training.  

The Beginning

I am a nineteen year old guy who has always dreamt of being an airline pilot. I've never really considered any other career. I found CTC whilst googling pilot schools a few years ago and had attended a few open days at Nursling before I applied. However with their fantastic track record, high standards and many partner airlines, I was pretty certain I wanted to go there without even visiting them first. After gaining a place there in August 2012, I thought I would start a blog whilst in my CTC Wings training so that family and friends could keep up with what I'm getting up to for the next couple of years. I'm on CP105, starting my CTC Wings course exactly one week today (on the 21st February). I got my house details on Monday and it is all now beginning to feel very real. I found it helpful reading through other people's experiences when applying to the scheme, so thought I'd give it a go too - hopefully it will be helpful if you are considering applying!

Application
I applied back in July just after I finished my A Levels. The application was pretty straightforward; you have to fill in an online form from CTC's website which asks you for details on your education, work, any flying experience etc. Once finished I very nervously clicked on the 'send' button and knew all I could do was wait.

The lovely Dibden Manor

Assessment day
Well luckily I passed the initial screening and was asked to go to one of CTC's assessment days at one of their training facilities, Dibden Manor. I arrived in the morning, rather nervous yet excited at the same time and went in to find five other guys were there with me. My age and lack of degree was something which concerned me, although there was someone else my age and only three of the six of us had been to university. The day started with a presentation by one of the selection team (who were very nice!!), which gave us all a chance to ask any questions we may have about the company or the day. After this we began the group tasks which lasted about an hour. Before the task everyone was asked to briefly say a little bit about themselves which really helps you relax a bit.
Next came the dreaded maths and PILAPT (Pilot Aptitude) tests, both of which are done on a computer. We were led down the corridor to a room full of computers and were asked to find the work station with our name on it. After being given an explanation of what was about to happen, it all began... The maths test is GCSE level and there are fifteen questions asked in fifteen minutes. The questions are multiple choice, although it is not as easy as it sounds and so I would advise anyone to scrub up on their maths before going! They aren't impossibly difficult, but it is always best to be prepared and ready for anything. Straight after the fifteen minutes the maths test is over and the PILAPT test begins. The tests are by no means easy, but for most before the 'actual one' you are given a practise go to make sure you totally understand what to do. I really do not see any way in which somebody could prepare for these tests and so my best advice would be to get a good night's sleep the night before (as tricky as that may be!!). These tests are to see if you have the skills needed to be successful in the course, with some using a joystick, others a keyboard (and one with both... which was, er, interesting). After this, you may find your palms are rather sweaty, you feel rather sick and your stomach feels as though you actually just swallowed a jar of butterflies. At this point it is lunchtime where you can re-join your new found friends around a table whilst attempting to eat something to take your mind off of the fact that you are about to find out if you have passed the morning tasks and are being given an interview that afternoon.
Well luckily I along with two others was asked to stay the afternoon for Stage 3 (the interview with a member of the selection team), which is a competency based interview. It was nowhere as scary as I thought it would be and after a couple of minutes I really loosened up, mainly as I knew they weren't trying to fail or trick me and also because interviewer was so friendly, and was a familiar face who had been around for the entire day. When the interview is over you're free! You now know you can do no more and that your fate is in CTC's hands.

The next day
After managing to get very little sleep I decided to get up at 6am as opposed to worrying in bed. Nobody knew I had my assessment the day before because I had only told my parents. I thought it best to keep my mobile off, as I really didn't feel like talking to anyone until I heard the news.
By one in the afternoon, I began to panic. I still had no call and so I decided to turn on my mobile to check my messages, to discover I had a voicemail. I had completely forgotten CTC had my mobile number. I hesitantly called the number to hear my message, hearing the chirpy voice of one of the very nice ladies who was on the selection team asking me to call her back. Shaking with nerves and knowing I was about to find out if my dream was about to come true I called her back to find I had passed the interview stage and that they would like to offer me a place at CTC! I don't really remember much after that, as it was all a bit of a shock.